The Resistance
by Phoenix-sol
Summary: I really don't know what to say about this one, it's a team of humans that fight the Yeerks...don't worry they're not morph capable.(New chapter added)
1. Resistance I

**Author's note: I'm not sure I want to continue this story, I basically ran out of ideas for the plot and events that may happen during the fic, if anyone is keen on giving a few ideas you can e-mail me at [phoenix_sol@yahoo.com][1]. And I'd appreciate it if I get some clear opinion on the story…**

**THE RESISTANCE**

**_Prologue_**

**T**he clearing, deep in a forest, a place uninhabited by man, an arena so dark that it seemed to swallow the nearby trees, mist had fallen down, making an eerie show of confused altitude; trees that seem to be surrounded by thick, moist clouds.

The sky, crammed with heavy clouds, threatening to bombard the soil with heavy rain. The moon showed through a break in the sky, the only source of light. Yet it disappeared and reappeared as the clouds shifted and moved beneath it.

A flash of lighting announced the beginning of the storm, the sky rumbled in acknowledgment. Soon, the forest was a demonstration of light and shadows.

Night.

In to the clearing, stumbling in view was a young female, human. Lost, alone…afraid.

The look in her eyes was the look any prey on Earth would have had, when a predator was homing in for the kill. She slipped, fell, got up and tumbled again.

She sobbed silently, helpless. Fait not too far away, she scrambled up, her boots sending clots of moist, fresh mud into the air.

She was drenched now. The rain was falling at it's hardest. She rose to her feet, staggering, threw herself behind a tree. Waited.

Her pursuers, the predators, the hunters, ran into view, annihilating trees in their wake, cutting them down with effortless swipes, these hunters where something new for Earth's nature, and something new always meant trouble.

They were seven-foot tall bladed monsters, reptiles; their eyes scanned the clearing. The young girl turned to see if they had reached her, she saw the walking horrors, gaped.

Had these predators seen her? No one but the girl herself knows, what nature saw was what mattered.

Out of the thicket something roared. And into view came one of nature's proudest creations, the most lethal killer, a hunter that is found in any given terrain on Earth, whether it was the deadly heat of a desert, or the killer freeze of the cold, you can count on seeing this beautiful awesome creature.

The cat.

This cat was the biggest of all its cousins, the largest of its entire species. It was the tiger. It prowled into view. Stealth was not its concern. It had power, and that was all it needed.

The clearing was soon to be a battle arena; it was only now that the girl noticed something vital. Beside the moving nightmares, was something familiar. A human, male, he was squinting at the darkness. Hoping to find the girl. He too was hiding from the monsters, and the tiger.

"She's not here, she must have gotten away." One of the reptilians said, oblivious to the tiger. The tiger ran, roared and jumped towards the reptilian, it reared up, it's paw slashed. Four bloody tracks appeared in it's face.

"Arghh!"

The battle ragged. Out of the mist appeared something else, more comforting to the girl than the tiger because the tiger would have done the same thing her pursuers would have done, it would have killed her.

Taller, bigger than a human, stronger too, came in the gorilla. The girl silently pleaded for help. Maybe the gorilla would understand, help her, after all, there was some relation between a human and a gorilla, they were both apes. And some stories had been told, about gorillas helping humans.

He clambered up, shoved through some of the fallen bodies and joined the fight. What stuck the girl as strange was that the tiger did not turn to slash at the gorilla, why, would a tiger ignore the presence of a gorilla, he too was a prey of some sort, or is he not?

There were more of the bladed creatures; fresh ones came from one side. The tiger did not turn to them, he was preoccupied with two of these strange creatures, the gorilla was too busy knocking the lights out of one of them.

But help did come; in the most horrifying way that is. Lumbering out of the mist came something that rivalled the tiger's powers, it did not have the agility, but it had all the power, and a body that allowed it to express its supremacy.

Its weak sighted eyes peeked into the darkness. It stood on two legs, showing off its height. It roared, a sound muddier than the tiger's own slightly higher pitched roar.

The aliens hesitated, and that was all the time the bear needed to drop down to all fours and charge.

Massacre, that's what a bear could do to anything breathing and alive. The girl turned away from the fight, tried to run for it but her legs wouldn't cooperate, she was now more afraid from the tiger and bear than anything else in the clearing.

Her own fear grew, panic spread trough her, making her heart hammer and her breathes become shallower. The need to survive was growing by the minute.

A flash of feathers made her turn to the battle again. The bird flew tucked it's wings and dove…talons outstretched, and gored the eyes of an intruder.

Help. Her brain wanted to scream. She sank to the ground, gasping for air…and then froze. Her hand flew up to her mouth.

Walking towards her was nothing she had ever set eyes on, it was a cross between a deer and a human, it looked like it had blue fur, in the darkness, she could not be sure of what she saw next. She thought the creature had four eyes, two like her own and another two on stalks.

The minute her terrified eyes searched its face she knew he was no real danger. She almost got up and cried with relief.

Something that gleamed caught the corner of her eyes; she crouched down, making herself less visible. The creature was fast. And, it had a tail that arched over it's head…like a scorpion, but where a scorpion's tail end should be, was not the usual pincers, no, this creature had a blade, long and sharply tipped.

It walked past her; it did not realize her presence. She was grateful.

The battle seemed to change sides as this creature engaged in the fight; the bizarre gathering of animals seemed to be winning.

A wolf joined the fight; it jumped nimbly, chancing a bite wherever it could.

The male, the human finally got to the terrified female, he grabbed her arm and started to drag her away.

It was all over. All of the aliens were dead. The strange group of animals, turned and walked away, only the tiger stayed behind. He scanned the area for any sign of life.

A fallen reptilian stood up, his lips moved, as if he was saying something, the tiger roared, the girl felt the vibration of the sound waves. The tiger sprinted towards the boy and slashed across his chest, four bloody tracks appeared.

He hit the ground. Now, the tiger was very close to the girl, if it could have heard her beating heart she would have been dead, but the steady drumming of her heart was camouflaged by the storm.

"Come on Jake," A voice called from the thicket, "It's time to go home."

Had Mother Nature designed this predator with a higher sense of smell, he would have smelt the girl.

The girl that saw, but had not heard.

She was finally taken away from the sight. The human male that was with her had not noticed either of the tiger or other animals.

She had.

**"I** couldn't believe it!" Cole shrieked, "What were you planning on doing?"

Melody paid no attention to Cole. Squeaky glared at him. "Leave her alone okay?" 

"That was the stupidest thing that we ever did!" He continued, "I mean, what Melody did. Sure, it was sweet that she tried to save our lives and all but come on! We had an exist secured!"

"At that time it didn't look like there was." Squeaky countered.

Cole jumped up, "I had told us that I had it all figured out, but do you want to listen, no, of course not, why listen to Cole when-"

"Why are you making a big deal out of this?" Max spat out, then suddenly he smiled, "She saw an Andalite."

Squeaky looked at Melody doubtfully, "Are you sure it wasn't Visser?"

Melody turned around to face him she nodded her head viscously.

He still didn't look a hundred percent sure.

"What about those animals?" Cole wondered, "Are they animals? Or Andalites. We know that the race called the Andalites possess the morphing power, which is why the Visser can morph, which means that these were Andalites."

"The Andalite fleet!" Max concluded.

"Don't jump to conclusions." I said. I rolled the twig that was in my mouth, chewed on it thoughtfully, then looked back at the group. "I don't think that this was the fleet."

"How come?" Genie asked.

I rolled my eyes, "If the Andalite fleet is here then why would they morph to animals and fight? Why not bring in the weapons, ships, etcetera?"

"Oh." Genie said, looking downcast.

You're probably wondering who we are; I'm not going to tell you the drill. You know, the whole thing with Earth's invasion, Yeerks are here to get us and so on.

Most people don't know about them, I'm not bothered about explanations. Leave that to Genie, she's the one to explain. If you want to know about the threat then drop by Genie she'll give you all her time.

Me? I'm all action and no talk. At least, I figured we'd get somewhere this way.

We call ourselves 'The Resistance'. We were at base, since none of us has any living relatives, we group ourselves there, actually, it is our home, our only home. Which is why I am not going to describe it or anything, it's a secret hideout, if our enemies discovered its location then we would have to find another place to live in. And movement is risky.

All in all we're seven. Max, the leader of this group of misfits, he's the kind of person leaders are cut out to be. And you know the kind; responsible, hypocritical, sincere, serious and well, he knows what to say and when to say it, otherwise he would not have been elected leader.

Max is average, he has dark hair, good looks and a charming personality. Although I've heard Cole say he's cheeky. I disagree, if anyone is cheeky it's Cole himself, and you have to really know Cole to understand him.

Cole is one heck of a paranoid guy, and his paranoia led him to be the sly, cunning, double-faced guy he is. He's also awfully light handed, with a tendency to prove his 'talent'. He has this understanding with computers, cars, and all sorts of little bits and pieces of machinery.

Cole wouldn't do badly in a fight, although I'd put my bets on Max or Squeaky. Possibly Squeaky. He's the strongest of Cole and Max.

But Squeaky doesn't fight much with anyone, everyone but me call him Mitch. He has this thing with 'decency' and with cleanness. Which is why I have come to call him Squeaky. You know, Squeaky clean.

And whom do we have next? Ah yes, the ladies.

We have Genie, she's a sweet black girl whose morals are confusing not just her but also everyone around her, excluding Cole and I. The word 'moral' doesn't leave a meaning in our limited underdeveloped ethics.

Melody; beautiful Melody, I've never met a girl that rivalled Melody's beauty. But as pretty as Melody is, her perfection is…imperfect.

She's deaf.

Somehow, I think it affects the way she acts, I've never met a person that could express facial emotion the way she does. Sometimes it scares me. The only emotion I've ever expressed so extensively is rage. This unique talent that she has had helped us in this fight for freedom of humans.

The mixture of venerable pretty girl with the con-artist Melody is had blended her to become a great fighter…well, not fighter as much as deceiver. Beneath her changing face, Melody is a very…girly type of girl. She's…a girl. You know, emotional, venerable and…_you _know, why should I explain?

Ah, and the last but not least, every single time I look at her, I've had to double look. Angela. I've never met a girl as…as strong and insane as she is. I mean she got guts. She's so manipulative and deceiving and complex that I usually decide against coming too close to her. But how could I? I…admire her.

But sad as it is, Angela thinks I'm all Bran and no brain, and that I'm a thick head. She has an eye for Max, I really can't see what she sees in him. Ah and another thing, she doesn't like me.

"Bullet-head. Sailing far away?" Cole cocked his head at me. "Don't drown in your thoughts okay?"

"He doesn't think before he acts. How can he drown in thoughts?" Angela murmured, "Struggling yes, but drowning? No."

"Snap off." I growled.

And my name is not Bullet-head, it's Julian, somehow they keep forgetting this piece of information.

"So, Andalite or Visser?" Max asked.

"One way to find out," Cole murmured, leaning over his laptop computer, he started to tap away, his long thin fingers flashed and his pale, thin face twisted in a smile.

"What are you doing?" Max asked.

"At your service." Cole replied without looking up, "I'm, um, calling them in a very direct way."

"What's Cole up with?" Melody asked softly, her voice slightly lower than usual. She had been reading our lips, a vital way of communication with any of us. Facts are facts, which means that Melody is deaf, she's been born this way, never heard a sound in her life.

Looking at Melody I could see that she was still shaken up from her little encounter. I had to drag her away from the place before we got caught. I knew more than anyone how scared she was. She wouldn't stop screaming. Something she saw or felt had scared her. I don't know what. I doubted that she'd seen an Andalite or a tiger or the animals that she described. She was pretty wild when I found her.

"He's up to something alright." I murmured. Melody smiled at me and rocked gently, then she said, "What does Julian think?"

Melody has this weird habit in talking as a third person. I've never heard her talk 'right' before.

"Julian thinks that Cole is crazy." I replied without a sound, just moving my lips.

"Melody thinks so too." She laughed. The others didn't bother to find out what she was laughing about, they could only guess that I've talked to her, I've done that a lot. I joined her laughter.

"Ha, and another hah." Cole snapped, "I've got their attention Bullet-head."

"Wha…? How?" I asked as Melody 'left us', she does that a lot. And I don't mean just leave the room, I mean that she blanks out; she has this 'I'm not home look' she retreats back into her 'shell'.

"What should we say?" Angela asked.

"Does 'We are the resistance, who are you.' Sound okay?" Max wondered.

"I was thinking on the lines of-" Angela started.

"Too late." Cole interrupted, "I wrote that."

I stood beside Max to get a look at the screen.

We are the Resistance, who are you? 

**What Resistance? **

The Resistance. 

**Can you please define?**

We are enemies of the yeerks, who are you enemies of? 

There was a long pause then. 

**We are sworn enemies of the yeerks, we are defenders of freedom. We are Andalite warriors. **

"Whoa!" I said. I looked up at Max, "What do you think?" 

"I think we should meet them." Max said slowly. "But I have a weird feeling about all this." 

"I can arrange that, just tell me the place." Cole said. 

"A Fast food chain." Angela said, "Somewhere crowded, you know, incase they are Yeerks." 

"McDonalds?" Cole asked. 

"No," I said suddenly. They all stared at me. 

"I like Burger King." Angela rolled her eyes skywards and Genie smiled. 

**H**appy faces. People smiling, people eating, kids yelling and harassed parents. The lot. 

"Alright, here's what we do." Max said, "Cole, Mitch and I are going to take a table inside. Bullet-head and Angela take another table near the door. Genie and Melody sit near a window." 

"Alright, the plan is that only Cole, Mitch and I-my team, are going to talk to the Andalites. Genie and Melody are going to tell us when they're coming, Bullet-head and Angela you follow them when they leave. And Angela?" 

"Hmm?" She said playing with her hair. 

"Don't let them see you, and _don't_ talk to them, Got that?" He looked at both of us. 

"Sure, chill out, no way am I letting them see us." I replied. "Or hear us." 

"Yeah, right." Angela rolled her eyes, "That's coming from the guy that trips over everything." 

"I'm not clumsy." I said. 

"I didn't say you were." 

"Knock it off, we don't need that." Max snapped at me, like it was my fault, Angela flashed him a smile. "You too." 

Angela's smile vanished. "Alright." She snapped. She grabbed my arm making a point of digging her nails in my flesh. 

"Ow!" 

She kicked my foot as we went through the doors, "Don't attract attention." 

She pushed me on to a chair and said, "Don't. Move. I'll be right back." 

I shrugged, watched her as she ordered something and came back with it. I grabbed what she brought and started to eat. She opened her hand, palm up and beckoned with her index finger at me. 

"What?" I said with a mouth full of burger, I swallowed, leaned forward, she put her face close to mine and whispered in my ear. "I don't plan to completely obey Max's wishes, what about you?" 

I leaned back and grinned at her, "Very sly, what's your motive." 

"I don't agree with Max's plan, I have a feeling that nothing is going to be said. Not much anyway. And you know how Max is with 'strangers' he'll be so polite and all. I think maybe we ought to show'em that we mean business." 

"And trouble." I nodded, "Say. You wouldn't mind buying me another Soda, will you?" 

She glared at me, "Don't push it." 

"Hey, look, is that them?" I caught Genie signaling at Cole. I raised an eyebrow then looked at Angela. "They morphed kids?" 

"They look like they're around fourteen." Angela said, "Maybe they morph kids as so not to attract attention from unwanted humans. Kids tend to be ignored by most adults." 

"How on earth do they fight back if someone like me bashed their heads together?" I wondered. 

"Just when I was starting to think that you've gained an intellectual capacity bigger than that of a three year old." Angela muttered. "They demorph you nit wit." 

"In front of all these people?" 

"If you bashed their heads together you are most likely going to be stopped by all these people, look, this place is like a parental shrine or something. Parents with kids everywhere. Besides, the manager will kick your ass out." 

"Uhuh-" I started when Angela interrupted me. 

"Check out the blonde." 

I slurped what was left of my Soda and looked at the blonde girl. "What's wrong with her?" 

"You'd have thought an Andalite would choose a lesser eye catching morph," She muttered, "I don't like blondes, you know that?" 

I smiled and tossed my head, "You're jealous of my fair hair? Black haired witch." 

Her green eyes flashed, "Not you, you idiot!" She hissed at me, "The girl." 

I shook my head, "Angela? How can you be insightful when the second you see a good looking girl you go blind? That's an Andalite, not a human girl." 

"Right." She grumbled. 

I watched as the blonde sat down next to Squeaky, Cole was beside Max. And another boy, a short Hispanic kid with another dark haired kid sat down. The black haired kind opened up a sauce and started licking it. I saw the blonde shake her head in exasperation. I noticed that Angela had the same expression on her face, although hers turned into a sneer. 

"You would have thought they learn some thing about human habits." 

"What's wrong with licking sauce?" I wondered, "Duke does that all the time." 

"Bullet-head." Angela snapped, "Duke is a dog, not a human." 

"There's a difference?" 

"Why do I bother?" 

"That's are queue." I said, nudging Angela. 

She jerked out of my reach and whispered angrily at me, "Stop acting like such an obvious jerk. Why do you act like a three year old? I can see them getting up, can't I?" 

"What's the matter with you?" I wondered. Maybe it was the blonde. 

As we went outside Genie came up to me and grabbed my arm, "Cole hid a transponder on one of them." She thrust the receiving device in my hand, "You're not going to be losing them." 

"Come on!" Angela said. She grabbed my arm and yanked me along. She started to run. "Bullet-head, they're heading south." 

"What's your hurry?" I grumbled, "We're not losing them." 

"Uhuh. These are Andalites in case you have noticed." 

"Sure, I know that." 

"They're not going to stay human for a very long time." 

"Oh, jeez, you're right!" 

"Aren't I always?" She snapped. 

Bang! 

"They turned right." I said, "In that ally." 

Bang! 

"What's that?" I asked. I looked at her then ran into the dark alley. 

Thud—Twaaang! Clash! 

And tripped over something knocking garbage cans over and ended up as a sprawled mess at the ground. I fumbled furiously. Tripped over an alley cat! The thing was hissing and spitting at me, furious that it had been trapped under my bulk. 

Angela jumped over me and yelled triumphantly, "Don't move!" 

I froze. What was it? 

Angela leaned over and grabbed the cat. The cat struggled but Angela's grip was firm. 

"What? Why do you want a cat? You already have one at base. I know that my dog messes around with your cat but come on, leave that thing alone, we don't need strays-" 

"That." Angela said grinning, holding the black and white kitty by the scruff of his neck, "Is an Andalite." 

"Huh?" 

"An Andalite in morph." She said, "He ditched the clothes." 

I looked at the ground, and true, there were a bundle of clothes, I took them, they were the blonde's outfit. 

**"W**hy doesn't it talk to us?" I asked, "Maybe its just a cat." 

"It isn't just a cat." Angela said smoothly, "I bet it _is_ an Andalite." 

Angela found a cage to throw the cat in. We found a place to stay, got us a room in a motel, Angela called Max and told him that we lost them, she said that they morphed to something and took off, so the transponder fell off. She told him that we're not heading back to Base and want to spend the time joy riding, cruising. Maybe find the Andalites. 

Yeah right. Although I was disappointed to hear that Angela wasn't being serious about the joy ride thing, I wouldn't mind taking a car on a spin, I have a driving license, but no car. Although we did find an Andalite. 

That's supposed to be good news. I think. 

"What if his friends come?" I said, "Well be busted big time." 

"We'll worry about that later." 

"Hey, pisst." Angela said, she slapped the side of the cage and brought her face near to the wire mesh. "Say something." 

Silence. 

"I swear that the rest of his team is around." Angela murmured, "Bullet-head?" 

"Huh?" I was getting sleepy. 

"Give me your gun." 

"Why do you want it? Where is your Dracon beam?" I demanded. 

"I don't carry a Dracon beam around when I'm at public places, that's only when we fight _them_. And I forgot to bring my gun." 

I stared at her. Angela forgetting her gun? That's like Genie swearing at somebody. That's like me not starting a fight. That's like Cole being stupid- 

"Bullet-head?" 

"What?" 

"The gun." 

I sighed and reached out to give it to her. She took it gratefully, then she went up to me and slid her hand in my pocket to retrieve the muffler, she took the tube and spun it on top of the gun's muzzle. 

Then she aimed at the cat. 

"Hey!" I said, alarmed. My alarm faded, I realized her plan, I started to laugh. It was a low, snickering sound, Angela joined me. 

"Tell your friends that you need them, tell them that if they don't appear within a minute, you will have a hole in your brain." 

The cat stared. Blinked at us. 

"Tell them that I mean business." 

"Tell'em that we're trouble." I echoed, Angela stuck her elbow in my ribs. 

She loaded the gun and slowly took the safety hatch off; the nine-millimeter's surface glinted evilly. There was a mad light in Angela's eyes. Her green eyes blazed in anger. Her shoulder length hair was so dark it was barely visible in the dimmed room. Since Angela was wearing black on black, her hands and face was the only visible part of her. 

"One." Angela whispered. 

I saw a shape twist and meld in the darkness, my eyes fixed on it. I grabbed Angela's free arm. "_Angela._" I whispered. "Look." 

"Two." She continued, paying no attention what so ever. 

"Thre-" 

Stop! 

Angela turned her head at an angle, looking at Andalite. "Ah. There he is." 

She retargeted and aimed at him, "So. An Andalite at last. Finally we meet." 

There was something insane in her voice, which was normal since that was the Angela I knew, rarely had she not used her low, silky voice with that I'm two seconds away from being locked in a rubber room with a straight jacket kind of look, she'll alternate from that, to talking in a cool, off hand, unemotional way. Creepy. 

Angela took out her own gun and handed mine back. Hers was ready with the muffler on, so that when she shut there will be minimum noise, wouldn't attract attention to the people in the motel. I pointed my gun at the cat and Angela walked up to the Andalite. 

"I heard so much about you." She whispered, she placed her head on his shoulder and stroked his fur. "Of course, all from _their_ point of you. Tell me, are you always that wicked?" 

Whose point of view? He asked, backing away from her. 

"The Yeerks," She giggled, "Who else." 

Then the expression on her face changed, she cocked her head at him and placed the muzzle of her gun dead center at his head. 

She smiled. A sane smile. 

"Beg me." 

He glared at her, For what? 

"Are you stupid." She hissed, "I have a gun t your head and you act as if nothing is happening?" 

The anger evaporated, she looked at his tail, "Is it as fast as the Visser's?" 

Faster. 

Fwaap! 

His blade was at her throat. Drop it. Or your friend will be headless. He said looking at me. 

I shook my head laughing, "What friend?" 

I shot the cat. 

No! 

Angela jerked away and shoved the Andalite, I shot the window. 

Crash! 

Angela and I jumped out- 

Thud. 

-And landed outside. 

"Come on!" I heard the giddiness in her voice; she grabbed my hand "Les' go!" 

We ran for quiet a while. I stopped and tried to catch my breath, I doubled over hands on my knees. 

I heard Angela panting, the she shoved me. "That was great." 

"Yeah." But I wasn't listening to her. 

"You killed that morphed Andalite! Did you see what he did?! I thought he was-" She stopped and looked at me, "What's wrong?" 

"Nothing." I said shaking my head at her. I winced, "Let's go home, I'm tired." 

**"H**ey guys what's up?" 

"The sky." Cole's answer was dull. 

"Cheer up man." 

Cole rolled his eyes at me, "Bullet-head, find someone else to bother." 

"What's up with him?" Squeaky asked. 

"He's upset." Genie replied. 

I grabbed an apple and bit into it, "I figured that part out, why?" 

"We lost him his toys." Angela rolled her eyes at Cole. "Get over it Cole, those transponders bug things you fixed up are smashed history." 

"I don't spend over six hours perfecting my 'toys' so that you can just lose them." He snapped, "That's not the first time you lost me something, last time it was that bugging device and know the satellite transponder-" 

"Get them insured." I said, laughing. 

"Ha, and another ha." He snapped at me, "Very funny." 

He left us and I heard him stomp up to his room. I looked at Max. 

"It'll blow over." Max said shrugging. 

"Where's Melody?" I asked. 

"Up in her room." Genie replied. 

I got up to Melody's room. Knocked softly on the door. Remembered that she was deaf and pressed the button near her door, it opened a lamp in her room, that way she'll know if someone wants to come in or not. 

No answer. 

Maybe she was asleep; I shrugged and went to my room. I quietly closed the door behind me. Sighed at my untidy room and started to get things organized. I wouldn't have done it if not for the nagging voice in my head, the voice that spent its days pestering me to 'tidy up my room'. 

It was of course my mother's voice. 

And it's a pity that I couldn't hear her voice again. Sad actually. 

Both my parents and little sister were killed in a car crash. I was in the back seat and didn't get hurt much, my sister, little Kenny flew from the backseat and out of the car, my father was killed immediately, his side of the car was crushed and the impact… 

My mother lived for three days, and was pronounced brain dead. And I the living survivor got away with a few scratches and a scar on my thigh. 

Luck huh? 

At least I wasn't Angela, she's a fugitive, a criminal, her mother died giving birth to her and was raised by her father who was a heavy alcoholic, she pulled the trigger on her father when she was fourteen, sad story there, and not a good one either. 

Let's just say that she lived two years getting all the money and the things that she wanted by shop lifting, shooting people and much more. 

And what about Max? and Cole? Their stories are unusual, at least, Cole's was. His parents were 'abducted' by aliens, not the Yeerks, the imaginary ones, that's what we though first, but is turned out real, and that they were truly abducted, not by Yeerks, or Andalites, but by a race called Skirt Na. 

And Max? Strange story because it's weird and doesn't quite add up. He's a run away, he ran away from his home, he used to have caring parents, but I don't know what made him leave, he has two older brothers and a good average family. He said it was destiny that brought him here, destiny and a dream he wouldn't talk about. 

Genie and Melody know each other from childhood, they're both orphans, Genie's parents are dead and Melody's had abandoned her, they both had the opportunity to leave the place they were in, Genie said it had been creepy and Melody insisted that it was run by creepy people. These being Yeerks. 

And that would be another long tale to tell, because it was a mission of ours; free the orphans. 

Exciting? Not. Satisfying? Yes. 

I laid back in bed and tried not to think about what might or might not happen, I kept thinking maybe, just maybe, we hadn't lost the Andalites, maybe they had followed us. Then again maybe not. 

I tossed around in my bed and finally fell asleep, I woke up about three in the morning, I tried to go back to sleep but I heard a sound. It was muffled. 

I got up out of my bed and room and into the main corridor that led to all the other bedrooms, I walked until I located the source of he sound. It came from the one of the spare rooms. 

I opened the door, keeping a gun in hand. 

"Freeze!" I said as I saw a shape move around in the darkness, the shape didn't stop moving but started to come towards me, I switched the lights on. 

"Merrow!" It was Angela's cat. Lovely. 

"Stop that." I muttered and hid my gun. 

That appeared to be a mistake; two enormous black-gloved hands grabbed me. One went on my shoulder the other covered my face. 

I struggled to free myself but whoever it was had a firm iron grip on me, I jerked my head back and caught a glimpse of my catcher. 

A gorilla. 

Oh boy. I didn't think gorillas lived in America. And besides, even if they did, they wouldn't be going inside our homes and grabbing us. This was an Andalite. 

Duh. 

Angela's cat, Jewels, started to shift meld and change, my eyes widened in alarm, finally, when he finished demorphing, the Andalite turned to face me.

Oops. 

What do I do now? 

Apparently he was busy doing something else, the gorilla still didn't let go of me. How do you get a gorilla to loosen up? I needed to shout or something to wake up the others. 

I don't know, I didn't have a banana to give him. I started to struggle again but his grip tightened even more. 

Give it up already. He snapped. You're lucky you're still alive. 

I rolled my eyes, so they were here for payback or not? 

I had only one free hand, but my other arm was twisted in an arm lock, and I didn't know if I was fast enough to grab something before he tightened his grip more snapping off my arm. 

That would be bad. 

And painful. 

Then I remembered something. I've learned to get myself out of situation like these by twisting myself round, and still hold the opponents arm, this way I could transfer the arm lock, only I knew it worked with humans and Hork-bajir that were equal my size, or a bit bigger, this gorilla was massive. Will it work? I needed to surprise him. 

The gorilla pushed me forward, he wanted me to move. 

That's fine. 

I took one step and then twisted round, I caught him by surprise. Duh. I shoved and then bolted. I was out of there. 

Ax! 

"MAX! COLE! SQU-urgh!" The dull side of the Andalite's blade found my stomach. 

I went down hard. 

WOOF! WOOF! 

Duke! 

He came in barking, his attention mainly at the Andalite. The Andalite took a step back. 

"What's the racket out there?!" I heard Cole yell, he sounded sleepy, and very pissed off. 

"Cole!" I started to say but Duke's barking drowned off my voice. 

"Will you shut your stupid mutt up!" Cole screamed, he took it personally if someone woke him up. Especially if that someone was not a human, i.e. a dog. My dog. Or Angela's cat. 

Cole is one light sleeper, which accounts for his being upset, he stepped into the room and the angry expression on his face evaporated. 

"What the…?" 

Soon, Cole got dragged into the fight, for some strange reason the others weren't in a hurrying to wake up and find what was making this much noise. 

I grabbed a metal pipe and hit the gorilla on the side of his head, he stumbled backwards and then lunged at me, Cole and Duke were fending off the Andalite. 

"Watch out!" 

"Yah!" 

"Grab his tail!" 

Fwap! 

"_Ow._" 

Goarh! 

BAM! 

I heard a gun shot being fired. I saw the owner of the gun and groaned. 

"What is going on here?" Max roared. 

"You're asking me?" 

Duke padded over to me and sat down, he yawned. 

"You decided to follow us home?" Max asked the two intruders, "What is this?" 

The Andalite snorted. I believe you have an answer for this, is it not true that you fired at one of my comrades? 

"What?" Max said, "No one fired at you. Or one of your comrades." 

Then it is not true that the human standing next to you is known to you? 

"Of course he's _known to me_." Max, I could hear a tingle of anger in his voice, "I've known him for years. What's it to you?" 

This human and another one, seized one of my friends and opened fire at us. He answered tightly. 

"But I never told-" Max fell silent suddenly. "ANGELA!" 

"What did you guys do?" Cole stared at me. 

Max turned on me, "Bullet-head. Is there something you need to tell me?" 

"What do you want?" Angela stood at the door way, she cocked her head at Max as if nothing had happened, she blinked lazily at him, "Why are you looking at me this way?" 

He glared at her, "Did you and Bullet-head do something behind my back?" 

"Maybe." Angela replied, she looked unconcerned, "Why?" 

Max looked like he was two seconds away from throttling her he turned at me again. "Bullet-head. You and Angela wait downstairs. And stay there." 

"What's wrong what happened?" Genie and Melody stood outside the room, Genie's mouth dropped open when she saw what was in the room. 

"That's him." Melody said as if in a daze. "Julian, that's the Andalite I saw." 

"Ah, sure." I replied, "I'm in a tight spot now. Maybe later." 

"Angela, you heard what I said." Max reminded her. She glared at him, apparently he was unaware of it. 

Without another word, Angela stormed out of the room, I followed her. She ran to her room and slammed the door behind her. I paced outside the door and after a moment of hesitation, knocked softly on her door. 

No answer. 

I knocked again, then said, "I'm coming in." 

No reaction, I opened the door to her room, stepped in and closed the door behind me. 

Angela was lying on her bed staring at the ceiling. One arm was over her face, the other dangled off the edge of her bed. 

"What's up? Max said downstairs. Not in you're room." 

"Maxi can say whatever he wants, I'm not listening." 

"Up to you." I said, I left and waited downstairs. Soon All of The Resistance members plus a gorilla and an Andalite stood in the living room. 

"Where's Angela?" Max said, then "No, forget I asked." 

He sighed and looked at me, "What did you do after I specifically told you not to do anything more than follow them? Come on, how hard is espionage?" 

"Hard enough for Angela." I said grinning, Max gave me a dirty look. "She got excited. And you know Angela when she gets excited, we found this cat in the alley, and the blond girl's clothes, Angela put two and two together and figured it was an Andalite in morph. So, we grabbed the cat, and the clothes-" 

Cole said, "You got the clothes? Meaning the transponder I built?"

"Sure," I said annoyed at Cole's stupidity, "Duh, anyway, we left them in the motel-"

"WAIT!" Cole shouted, "You _had_ the transponders and then you _just_ _threw_ them away?!"

"Well-"

"I cannot believe this!" Cole yelled, "Man, I'm off to see if I could get my stuff back."

"It's just a lousy transponder Cole." I muttered. 

"No, not just a lousy transponder, it's something I made, apparently _Bullet-head_ I don't throw away my stuff." Cole snapped, storming out of the room. 

I shook my head and looked at the gorilla, "Touchy feller, huh?" 

I'll say. 

"Anyway." Max said. 

"Anyway," I agreed, "Angela was yelling at the cat to talk, and then when it didn't she started to get mad, you know, insane mode switched on. She grabbed my gun-" 

I wouldn't say grabbed. 

"And then pointed it at the cat and threatened to blow it's brains out if it didn't call him,"-I cocked my head at the Andalite-"He did come and then she gave me back my gun and she took out hers and then she started to act all weird, you know Angela. Then he"-I cocked my head again at the Andalite-"Pressed his blade against Angela's throat and told me that he intended to kill her, I had to act Max! So as a distraction, I shot the freakin' cat and got us out safely." I ended in an angry tone, "Got a problem?" 

Squeaky laughed, "And you didn't try and stop Angela at all?" 

"Uhh, I should have?" I wondered, grinning slightly. 

"Very amusing Bullet-head." Genie snapped. "You killed an Andalite that night. And all you're saying-" 

Max held up a hand, "Hold up. Sure, killing a sentient creature isn't something to be happy about, but the issue here is that you,"-he looked at me-"decided to ignore my orders, what if we were in a combat situation?" 

I snorted. "What _if_." 

Max stared at me, "So you're saying it's okay if you decided to have your mind at what I say and end up killing one of us. So, you're saying you wouldn't care if you ended up killing Melody, Genie, or Cole, or even me? What then?" 

"I'd be happy to kill Cole." 

Max stuck his face very close to mine, he spoke in a low, calm, voice, but there was something dangerous about the expression on his face. "Next time you decided to pull off a stunt like that, Julian, think about how much this could affect this war, if I'm gone, none of you will lead, without me, the lot of you will be yelling at each other, Angela will be out of control and you'd be following her. Cole would stop fighting and Mitch would probably end up being killed. _Do I make myself clear_?" 

"Sure." I struggled to keep a straight face.

"We're affecting the war?" Squeaky muttered, "That's something new. What happened to us being pebbles?"

"Know that that's cleared up, I think that you owe them an apology."

"Not that it'll bring that cat back." I shrugged my shoulders. "I'm sorry."

The gorilla said, Our comrade, by the way, did not die.

I stared at him.

But she was seriously pissed off.

   [1]: mailto:phoenix_sol@yahoo.com



	2. Resistance II

THE RESISTANCE II

I stood by the tree, it was a big oaken tree, underneath the tree it was slightly cooler than the already cool night, a gentle wind blew stirring the leaves and rustling the branches. 

Some of the wind ruffled my hair; I pushed away the long black strands of my hair, some of them were stained wet, with my tears. 

I Angela, who had no reason to cry, was crying. If I had ever cried it would have been in frustration, caught up in my emotions. 

This time I was calm, the heat of war had left me, no reason to retreat to insanity to deal with it. As I said, underneath the oaken tree there was no war. 

But there was. 

A silent war. A never-ending battle. My mind was torn; grief, rage, and loss. 

As I touched the branches of the tree the memories came back, the sweet ones slowly, the bitter ones in angry flashes. The eye of my mind played back the visions as if they were real, only I was standing far away looking at the events unfold beside me. 

_A girl with long black hair and green eyes, standing at a lake, beside her was a boy, he stood behind the girl, his hands covering her eyes. _

_"Don't peek." He whispered. _

_She stood excited, wondered what was the surprise. "I wouldn't." _

_He took away his hands from her face, stood back. "Open your eyes." _

_In front of the girl was stunning scenery; the sky glowed crimson and gold, higher up was the light blue of the sky. Clouds; flat things that had been swept by the wind their colors where similar to the sky, a tingle of red, yellow and slight pink. _

_The lake was a mirror reflection of the surrounding landscape; the wind that had brushed the clouds in the previous days was gone. Leaving the lake very calm as if one could walk on it. _

_The horizon was nonexistent, huge mountains and behind that, vast forests blocked it from view. _

_Everywhere there was greenery and a splash of lively colors, of course there would be, it was spring. _

_She turned around to face him. "It's beautiful." _

_He grinned at her, his blue eyes shinning, his pale skin was glowing red from the setting sun. His short slightly messy white hair looked like the white of the snow tipped mountains. _

I closed my eyes, don't think about his face…don't think about his face. But it was too late, my mind was already there, and it was screaming.

_Stained red, his face was stained red, not from the setting sun but from blood, his blood. _

_His once shinning blue eyes where dull, glassy, dead. _

_He may have been grinning, but his mouth no longer did, it was hanging slightly open, and a red bloody line was draw at the corner of his lip and down his face. _

_The girl held onto his lifeless body. Terror gripped her heart. _

_They were no longer at the lake, they where miles away, in an underground chamber. _

_No stunning scenery. The sound of chirping birds was replaced by terrified screams of despair and rage. The running water of the nearby waterfall was replaced by the gentle sloshing of the sludgy molten like pool. The beautiful sky was replaced by earth. And the spring mood was changed into a desperate, distressed and agitated persona. It was a place that spoke of horror and dread. _

_It was a Yeerk pool. _

_Standing off at the side of the pool was an Andalite. Of course, no longer Andalite. _

I shook my head, why was I remembering all this? There was no point in thinking about it.

_"I'll be back!" The girl shouted, she shouted at the Yeerk, she shouted to the dead boy. _

_"I promise!" She screamed, as if screaming would bring him back. She wanted revenge, she wanted more than just revenge. _

_That alien had hurt her, hurt her far more than any other person in her life. _

_He had taken away the one important thing in her life. And for that, she promised that she will see that he paid, and she will see to it.To prove that the boy's death was not in vain. _

It was over, I felt exhausted and tired, I sank down, back towards the tree and crouched near the gravestone. 

On the stone, engraved was a word, I looked at it silently. I dared not to read the name out loud. 

_Alexis_

I buried him in our favorite spot, underneath the oaken tree. Alexis is a casualty of war. 

He was a comrade. A friend to the Resistance. Now, he is forgotten. They speak of him no more. 

I hadn't forgotten him, and although I do not speak of him in front of the Resistance, I think about him a lot. Recall mostly. 

And I wouldn't say his name again. Out loud. Never. Only in front of his murderer, when I would take out the creature responsible for his death. 

I also plan to end my life at that moment of sorrow victory. 

In the same spot that Alexis died. 

"Here's the deal." Cole was saying, "Whoever gets the short stick gets to play as backup. And I'll tell you that there are three short sticks." 

I rolled my eyes, "Get it over with Cole." 

"Shut up Angela." Cole snarled harshly. 

"So now, are you going to shut him up?" I asked Max innocently, "Isn't that your job?" 

"Look, we're here on a mission. Let's not forget that." 

"Oh, we are?" Bullet-head looked at Max in mock surprise, "I thought that was ten minutes ago." 

"That was ages ago." I grumbled. 

"Come on." Genie said in exasperation, "I'll grab one first." 

She did. And she had a short stick. "Oh." 

Mitch drew next; he too had a short stick. "Hey, you chipped all of them off? What's the point you dodo?" 

Cole shook his head, I came up and grabbed one, I yanked it out of his grip. "Long." 

"Don't yank like that." Cole muttered. 

Melody picked one, she too got a long one. 

Max and Bullet-head took a long one. 

"Huh?" Cole stuttered, "I play back up? Again?" Then he changed the look on his face to a sly, mischievous one, "Don't I always?" 

"We need you as back up to clear and exit and tell us when to move and where." Max said, "If you've gotten a long stick I would have stuck in backup anyway." 

"So when are we going? And remind me of this mission of ours, what are we doing?" Genie asked. 

"We're going to stop the Yeerks from converting a Library into a Yeerk pick-a-host." 

"What? All of a sudden the Yeerks single out a quite place to get? That's not going to be at easy for the Yeerks, us either." 

"N-uh." Genie said, "Easy." 

"How so?" Mitch asked. 

"Come on, how many times have you seen it? Teens our age sometimes go to the library to dig up research, right? How many times have we or other guys like us been kicked out for messing around? If you can't remember then I'll remind you." 

"What if the librarian is a controller?" Cole wondered, "This can go badly on us." 

"Yeah, Pitcher will kick us out, sure, she's as old as the library itself-which is pretty old- I don't think she'd be a controller, not the kind of host I picture for a Yeerk." 

"So, is she or isn't she?" Mitch asked. 

"We could ask the Andalites." Max spoke up suddenly, "They have an advantage over us." 

"And a time limit." I reminded, "But it could work." 

"Provided they help us." Cole said. 

"They will, they have to." 

Bullet-head turned to stare at me, "How do you know?" 

"I know." 

"How are you so sure?" Mitch asked. 

"Because, they think we will screw up. If they help us we wouldn't." 

"Huh?" 

"Look." I said impatiently, "We met the Andalites right? And they met us, if we get caught and are made into controllers, the Yeerks might, just might find a way to use us for bait to lure the Andalites into helping us out." 

"Why would they want to help us?" Bullet-head asked rhetorically. "Didn't we almost kill one of theirs?" 

Cole shook his head, "Odds too high against them in this war, they're desperate for allies, even I can see that." 

I nodded, "If it makes you feel any better, we'd be expendable allies, Andalites wouldn't be worried that much if one of us died, they think we're inferior. We learnt that from the Yeerks." 

Genie shrugged, "I'm not sure." 

"Well I am, and I'm going to try find them." 

"How?" Max asked me. 

"I'll deal with that." 

"Alone?" 

"It will work that way." 

"No. I'm going with you." Max said. 

"Whatever." I decided against arguing. 

"Okay." Max said cheerfully, "The rest of you chill while we go hunting for Andalites, I'm feeling this means going to the forest. Bullet-head, I'm taking your dog." 

"Sure, you need flash lights too." 

"We'll get those." 

I went upstairs and fetched my Dracon beam, my gun too. As an after though I changed into my usual espionage outfit; black everything. 

Then I headed outside where Max was waiting with Duke, Duke's a German shepherd, use to be Bullet-head's dad's. His father was a policeman. Canine unit. So Duke was well trained, we use him if we need to track someone down or follow from a distance. 

"What are we suppose to do? Shout our lungs out? I doubt that it will work." 

"Did you get Duke to sniff the living room?" 

"Sure, he knows the sent." 

"Then let's move." 

And we did, for the most part it was a silent walk, we didn't turn our lights on; the moon was out and there was enough light to see, we didn't need to be seen not know. 

"You know." Max said, "What if we see him before he sees us?" 

"Then we give him a surprise." 

"We're not doing that." 

"Then why did you ask me?" 

"So that you get the hint." He replied, "We're not looking for a fight, we're going to ask for help." 

"No, we're going to _tell_ them to help us. Who said we're asking?" 

Max sighed, "You're impossible." 

I stopped walking. Noticed that as silent as the forest was it wasn't devoid of activity. Looked at a lone badger going around his usual day's work. Observe ants, beetles and numerous insects get along with their lives.

"What?" 

"You dragged yourself out here for a pep talk didn't you? It wasn't for the joy of being with me was it? I don't think so." 

"Angela-" 

"Don't Angela me." I said angrily, "Will you stop acting as if I'm three years old, I'm seventeen for god's sake, _seventeen_." 

"Look, we didn't have time to talk about it maybe that was a bad idea, maybe we should have talked about-" 

"We wouldn't." I said coldly, I knew what he was talking about, "No point opening up the past. That was history it will stay that way. Do you understand?" 

I started to walk again; Max reached out and grabbed my shoulder. I stopped and glanced back at him, I saw him looking at me strangely. 

"I understand Angela, but do you?" 

"I think we're close." Max whispered. 

Duke crouched low to the ground. 

"Let's move on." I whispered back. 

"Wait!" He hissed, "Did you hear that?" 

I froze and strained to hear something. I did, it was a jumble of words, along with music. I raised an eyebrow at Max, what was this. 

Suddenly Max grinned. 

"What?" 

He shook his head still grinning, he started to mouth a word, I frowned.

_TV?_

I closed my eyes and concentrated on what I was hearing, now there were no words but only music, music that was strangely familiar, something I've watched a long, long time ago. 

It was a Cartoon. _Tom & Jerry_. And the Andalite was watching it. 

I rolled my eyes sky high. This was coming from an arrogant species that considered humans to be inferior and backwards? 

The volume was on high, not too high but high enough for us sneak up slowly…and before Max could open that mouth of his and call out to approve of our visit I stepped out of the trees and said. "Hey, we want to talk." 

The Andalite jerked, startled. He had caught sight of me as I walked out of the trees. He muted the TV and then walked calmly up to me, I took a step back. 

Max managed to untangle himself out of a thorn bush and stomped the rest of the bush moving forwards, Duke watched us from a distance. 

How did you find me? 

"You're not particularly clever." I said airily, I leered at him, "Better cover your tracks next time." 

Max glared at me, shook his head, he looked at the Andalite and said, "I'm sorry about that, but we needed to find you, we need your help actually." 

Help? _Plah! _Who said we needed help? We need assistance, assistance in doing an irrelevant job that wouldn't really affect the situation. 

You? Need our help? The Andalite laughed. Maybe I should have covered my tracks. 

"I'm not flattered." I muttered. I knew that Max was though. 

"I don't suppose you'll let me talk to you're leader. Will you?" 

"Now why wouldn't he? We're perfectly harmless." The Andalite looked at me in a strained kind of way, his eyes revealed a slight hint of disgust. 

He was trying to ignore me. I wasn't going to make that happen, no one is going to ignore me. 

"What? I said something wrong?" I masked my voice with genuine concern. 

No. He replied evenly, he seemed to want to say more but stopped himself. 

I'll have fun with this one later, when I get to know him better, why rush ahead? I can play my games at ease. I smiled at him. 

"So…?" Max asked looking at the Andalite. 

I will arrange that. He replied, But under one condition. 

"Which is?" 

All of you in The Resistance is to be there. 

Drat. 

He paused and looked at me, No foul play. 

Double Drat. 

We told them the situation. It was urgent because of the amount of people who visit the library. Kids, students, college students, adults, teachers, and a lot more. And oddly enough, it seemed that there were actually people who loved to 'hang out' in the library. 

Weirdoes. Like Cole. Like Melody. Addicted to books. Cole got his brain stuck in science fiction since childhood, while Melody got her imagination running on fiction from a long time ago. 

I don't like libraries. The only kinds of books I've read were the horror ones. And occasionally fantasy. 

Don't stare at me; I once fell in love with the mystic dragon. A beautiful monster. A worthy animal if it had ever lived. 

Mysterious. That's what I like. 

Which is why I wear black. Melody wears casual so you got to figure what she's like, and Genie's average, make nothing about her. Neither Genie nor Melody got style, I try to encourage them to wear things that express something about their character and I always get nowhere. The boys know nothing about dressing up, or clothes for that matter. 

There was this time when Bullet-head was looking for something light to wear, it was a hot day and we had to spend a lot of time outdoors for surveillance. He grabbed a pair of jeans and a shirt. He reduced his jeans to shorts by shredding the legs and tore the sleeves off his shirt. Fashion statement? 

Interesting question. I approved of it, no one else did. This kind of stands against my point, doesn't it? Bad example. 

Anyway. Cole was acting like his usual self; quiet, considering. Planning something no doubt. Max though was much more diplomatic than usual. Mitch threw a grin here and there. Melody was withdrawn as usual. Bullet-head eyeballed each and every one of the Andalites and Genie aided Max in 'reaching out'. 

I acted uninterested and unimpressed. Whenever asked a question I'd pull on a sour look and replied sarcastically, my routine. Sure I'm not in a bad mood but that was the way I wanted the Andalites to know me as; I believe in first impressions. And I wanted to build a false one. 

Why? Because it's part of The Game. I cannot tell you what the game is and what is its rules or anything. My comrades in The Resistance know of The Game. They know nothing more of it other than its existence. They don't even know that I play it. 

You will not believe the story behind it. 

Let me back up a little. You passed a humongous border by believing about the existence of aliens. The invasion. Yeerks. Andalites. The war. 

There is a Game too. Played by two. They are the masters of this universe, their names I can tell you quiet easily. It will mean nothing to you of course, you have never heard of it. I am the only human that had. 

And of these aliens, the Andalites I should say that heard the name of the creature that I am about to mention, you will not believe me, because you never have. 

Ellimist. 

What is the Ellimist? Who? Is it one? A she? He? Or even it? A group? A race? 

Even I do not know. But what I know is that he has an enemy; Crayak. 

And I serve Crayak. 

That day, the day that I remembered only too well, the day that I held the gun and pointed it at my father. 

He came to me, whispered. 

_I will make you become who you are._

I never truly understood what he meant by it. He said that I deserved more, more than being treated like rubbish, more than becoming a mere figment in the rolling sea of human madness. 

He said that I will make a difference; I will become more than just a human. I will become _The Human_. 

The Aldrea. Prince Elfangor. Dak the Seer. The Abomination. The human; Angela. 

I don't know what I am destined to do, I have no idea. But I do know that I hold a curious thread of time, and that it will happen. 

Whatever it is. It will happen. 

_The Angela_. I like the sound of that. 

Oh. 

That was my reaction. Oh. 

They were humans? Oh. 

Why on Earth or off Earth would they trust us? It made no sense. To me anyways. Max said that it was unimportant if I understood or not. He's right; I could only care less. 

There was more to the story than that, I know that there was two more meeting with _The Animorphs_. I had not been there. 

I was sick. And I stayed behind alone in Base, just me, Duke and Jewels. 

It happens, hey I'm human. Human get ill at times. But I thought it was more than that, I thought that there was something in the meeting said, about me or about them, that I was not to hear. Or a conclusion I was not to reach. 

The Game? 

I was very sure. And that troubled me, was there something Crayak didn't want me to hear. If then why didn't he send me his wildcard? 

Drode and Drone, double wildcards, where one is seen and the other is heard. Well not heard, but meddles around in your brain. Drone is virtually non-existent. But just the same he is there. Think of him as a lost Soul. One evil, sad soul. I like that. 

I managed to know their names; Jake, Rachel, Cassie, Tobias, Marco and Ax. One Andalite. This was a slight disappointment. 

We were to get on with this mission of ours. The library thing. And you want to know what infuriates me? I was not needed. 

_Ahhh!_ Who are they to ignore me? Don't they understand what I would become? It was as if suddenly there was this throbbing heat in my body, a fire that I couldn't get rid of. With the fire glowed a red eye. 

I glanced around my room, my eyes saw everything red. Red… red… _red_… _red_! My brain started to spin uncontrollably. The red film over my eyes became denser… blood. Crude, red, blood. 

I dashed out of my room looking for something that repelled the red, my eyes searched my surroundings. Nothing. 

My breathing became short, blackness started to sweep from the corners of my eyes, started to take away my vision. 

I staggered outside Base and into the forest. The forest was the Base's backyard. Duh, we were in the middle of nowhere. 

Everything was green. Slowly, the black curtains were drawn back, my red stained vision went to normal. Green. Peaceful. No blood. 

I felt my brain relax, the wheels stopped spinning. I leaned against one of the trees. My muscles eased. 

The oaken tree. 

For some strange reason I glanced down. At the ground. 

I jolted. Jumped as if I was electrified. 

The grave. 

I felt the blood drain from my face. 

I stepped back, trembling. The earth had been dug out, just underneath the marked stone. 

But the body…? 

I spun round, nothing, I started to move away when I noticed a strange smell. Smell of decay. 

I looked up into the great tree. 

And my whole world went crazy.


	3. Resistance III

**THE RESISTANCE III**

**"W**e are agreed?" Jake asked. 

"Sure. We don't do anything till you guys checked the situation out." Mitch replied, "That's easy, I'm not against doing nothing. I prefer a quiet day." 

Julian rolled his eyes skywards, "Uhuh, guess who isn't going to be thrilled." 

Max sighed. "I'll talk to her." 

"Man, she's out of control." Cole muttered, "When are we going to do something about it?" 

"You're saying that because Angela creeps you out." Julian said grinning. "Awww. Isn't that sweet. Cole, don't worry I'll protect you against Angela's death claws." 

"Over my dead body." He snapped, "She doesn't scare me." 

Julian looked at Marco and then said, "Don't they always say that." 

He laughed, "So, Rachel, what do you think about this Angela, it sounds like your loft is being taken over." 

"Shut up Marco. I'll show you who'd be taking over who." 

"Hey, you kid's aren't serious are you? I was just joking." Julian looked surprised. 

"Kids? _Kids?_" Marco yelped, "Now we're kids?" 

"Marco chill. We're not kids." Rachel batted her eyelids, "You are." 

"Hah, hah and Hah!" Marco shook his head, "Now this is serious. Since when were we _kids_?" 

"So where do you guys live?" Cassie asked, "I mean. From what you told us you're pretty much alone." 

I communicated using sign language, Marco looked a bit surprised. "What, what's wrong." 

More sign language. 

"She's saying that we live in the forest." Julian translated. 

"Yeah but why is she-" 

"She's deaf." I think that through the half hour we've been through they hadn't noticed this detail. 

"But then how does she…uh. Can she understand us?" I could see the awkwardness. As an unofficial rule, a long time ago I've told the others that I didn't want them telling anyone that I was deaf. I could manage to trick a lot of people, I've also told them not to say that I can speak. Which they were not going to do, this was something I introduced. 

I rarely talked anyway. And besides, I'm almost always with Julian and Genie, they know hand language, actually all of us do, but they were the only two who used it extensively with me. 

Why the fuss? Well, no one knows for sure why I do that, why I just don't throw the whole truth out. The answer to this question is simple; impulse. Something that I've adopted, I've been at a lot of orphanages and shelters I've met a lot of people and I had adopted this instinct to throw my weaknesses at people and then to my desire I'd slowly add my strengths. 

I don't think that a person with full hearing understands what it means to talk when being deaf. I am used to it. Of course, my voice is never clear, I am told that it waves and flatters at times, and that the syllables of my words are jumbled together, so I need to really concentrate and think about the process of speaking. 

And being a girl that frequently daydreams I am not a huge fan of concentration. 

Sign language is so much easier. 

Genie once explained to me that there are some people who find it disturbing, sign language, and the deaf. I didn't understand. She said it made normal people feel awkward. 

This is exactly what I was seeing. I saw and understood the pity that translated from face to face. From Jake, Marco, Cassie, Rachel and Tobias. I saw their awkwardness. I ignored it, I'm used to that too. 

In any case I decided against showing any complications then was necessary and spoke out, "Yes, I can understand you." 

The Andalite, Ax, just looked confused. He was in his human morph, and so was Tobias. They told us Tobias's story. I thought that it was sad. 

For some strange reason I didn't find bravery in Tobnsi-language: EN-US">Julianias, not the way it was in Rachel, Jake and Ax. 

He reminded me of me. I don't know why. Not to say that either of us are cowards. 

Ax looked at me and talked. I read his lips and understood what he was saying. "I do not understand, what does the deafness have anything to do with Melody's ability to learn speech? Laar-nuh." 

Cassie had an answer for that, "Well Ax, it got to do with the fact that human babies need to hear speech to learn how to copy and mimic the words." 

The fact. I hate that word. The fact that human babies _need_ to hear speech to mimic. The fact that I'm an orphan. The fact that I'm deaf. 

All facts. 

And facts are things no one, least of all me, could change. Facts are facts. _Face the facts_. 

Nothing I could change. But looking around me, I could see more facts. Some which were more important than my being deaf. 

The young boy who was transformed to become a leader. 

The sweet, gentle girl who wants to help, sentimentality, some people tend to lose that through war, this girl knows her bearings. 

The sad hawk boy. I couldn't make out much about either of Marco or Rachel. I could see that Marco likes a good laugh; I could see that there's more to him than just that. And I could see more something aggressive in the blonde, something that reminded me of Julian, or Angela, but Angela is different. She's insane. Wako. 

I don't mean to be mean. No, that's a fact. 

I told you I liked that word. 

We headed away from civilization and into the forest, to Base, it's an abandoned house, I have no idea why it was built there or who thought of building a house in an isolated place like this, but I do know that Angela is the one that found it. 

I swear that the place is enchanted, every time I try to go there I lose track of where I'm going. Like all of a sudden I feel that it isn't a good idea to go that way, even though I know that the house was there. 

Commotion, the others were messing around. 

What was it? 

Out of the bushes something scrambled, with his jaws yapping and his brown black coat damp, Duke bolted towards us. 

He stopped a few feet away and started to bark madly, and then he ran to Julian and started to jump at him, trying to grab his attention. 

"Whoa!" I finally managed to catch someone talking, Julian, "What's wrong boy?" 

Duke stopped barking and stood with his head cocked to a side, he looked at all of us, his tail wagged slowly. 

Julian went up to Duke. "What's up boy?" 

He barked. I never heard a dog bark but I know that it is a loud sound. I knew this by once going up to Dukle and place my hand at his vocals, the vibrations told me that. Tell you the truth; I think that neither dog nor human vibrations 'sound' nice. Not that I've 'heard' anyway. He again tried to lick Julian's face by jumping up at him. 

Julian laughed and pushed Duke down. 

I saw Julian gasp. 

"What?" Cole asked, he looked annoyed. "Cut the suspense. I can't stand it." 

Julian stared at us bewildered; he held his palms out for us to see. 

Blood. 

Duke's coat was stained with blood. 

**"A**ngela." Max whispered breathlessly. He looked stunned; "She's alone at Base." 

Julian cursed. He headed out in a run following Duke. We followed his lead. The Animorphs came too. They looked just as puzzled as we were. 

Duke led us to wards a patch of green forest near the lake, he took us to a path I remembered only too well. 

"Where are we going?" Rachel wondered. 

"Alexis. His grave." I said tightly. 

Maybe Angela was there. But that didn't explain the blood. Duke stopped suddenly when he reached the tree he started to sniff around. The tree was an old huge oaken tree. Yeah, long time since I came back here to take a look at it. 

"Who?" Marco panted. 

"He's not there…" Max trailed off. He looked startled. He jerked forward and walked round the thick tree to where the grave was, the alarm on the other's faces told me that he must have said something. 

"What is it?" Genie asked she looked afraid, her face pale. 

Max said nothing, just pointed. 

"Sick." Cole hissed. 

"Oh my…" Genie whispered, "Hey…" 

The grave. It was…it was dug out. I frowned; I still didn't see the huge alarm. 

Okay…if the grave was dug out then there must be a body…the body…Alexis? 

No body. Huh? 

On the bark of the tree I saw a picture. It took me a few moments to see what it resembled. 

It was a picture of an Andalite, a human body lay near it. A headless body. The face sort of hung in space, but the face itself, the features where deformed. It was defiantly a human face, but half of it appeared to be bone, and the other half skin…rotting skin I think. It was painted-if you want to say painted- in blood, human blood no doubt. 

"What the…what does it mean?" Jake stuttered. 

The others like Jake and my friends were shocked. So was I. 

Max looked at the ground. His face was changing color rapidly, like he was going to be sick. "That's what the Visser did to Alexis's body…after killing him he…he cut his head off…then, then he…he threw his body in acid…umm, Angela,"-I could tell that he was talking in a low faint voice, from the expression on his face-"It was to get Angela to break down and reveal…reveal a secret she knew." 

"That's the Visser we all know and lov-" Rachel's elbow found it's way to Marco's ribs. He stooped talking abruptly. 

"What secret?" Cassie asked gently. 

"We…we don't know." Max looked like he was going to cry. The others were having a hard time controlling themselves too. Genie was already crying. It was unexpected. We've buried Alexis and the memory of his death right here, a few years ago. 

"Angela." Julian yelled suddenly, "Where is she?" 

Duke's ears prickled up suddenly, like he was hearing something distant. The Andalite and Tobias had demorphed. 

Some one is screaming. Tobias sounded alarmed. 

We ran to Base at top speed, Tobias flew ahead and Duke sped away. Julian was first to reach his destination. I followed with Max just behind me. 

Julian burst through the front door. "Angela!" 

I doubt that there was an answer because I saw no reaction in Julian's face, or Max's. 

We walked through to the living room and found nothing. 

"Basement. The door is open." Cole said, he looked slightly angry. I understood why, down at the basement is Cole's private world, he spends more time in there than any other place, his lab if you want to call it that, is down in there, he also got a surveillance set so he could see what's happening all over the house including outside and neighboring sites. 

Yeah, even our bedrooms, Genie, Angela and I objected. Cole insisted that it was for 'security reasons' I didn't believe him. 

So it meant that all of us are going down to take a look, Cole didn't like any of us walking around in their, last time I went he kept screaming "Don't touch anything!" at me till I left. 

Of course I took advantage of my being deaf. 

The notion of having an Andalite and five kids going down along with us will drive Cole crazy. I know that about him. 

Ugh, he's so secretive. You'd think it would kill the guy if we took a look around his secret lair. 

Cole pushed open the heavy metal door, it was open which is very strange, Cole never leaves that door open and it is protected by some secret code, there was no forced entry and his code would actually take the Yeerks time to crack. 

U-huh, Cole learnt a lot of his skills by being a host to a Yeerk scientist. But that was ages ago, and Cole was able to build up from the knowledge that he had leant. 

Marco whistled as he saw the vast area of monitors that displayed surveillance, there even was a sort of upgraded sensor that would alert if there was a ship flying by. 

This place shows a sophistication in technology more than what I have seen in hands of humans. The Andalite marveled. 

Thought speak, the closest thing I'd ever come across hearing something, but thought speak is like a voice in your head, and deaf or not this I've heard a voice in my head. 

Mine. 

You're asking how I know what my voice sounds like? Well, I'm known to throw a few white lies here and there. I wasn't born deaf, but it is a very, very long time since I heard anything, and the voice in my head wasn't one of a seventeen year old, it was one of a five year old. 

Thought speech isn't something new to me, Visser three's thought-speak was the first thing I heard for over roughly eleven years. 

The first time I heard it I almost though I've died and went to hell. Visser three's thought speak didn't sound like an angel's, I can tell you that much. 

"No, that's true. But I've learnt all that from the Yeerks." Cole answered smoothly. 

"Yeah? What did you do? Threaten them?" Rachel asked. 

"No." Cole said tightly as he scanned the lab, "I was a host for over five years." 

The Andalite jerked slightly. Marco whistled, "Six years?" 

"And three days." Cole grinned. 

Julian rolled his eyes, "Gimmie a break." 

"Cole." Mitch said suddenly, "Didn't you say you there was a trap door somewhere." 

Cole looked like he was going to knock out all the teeth in Mitch's skull. But then he said neutrally, "I may have said that." 

"You _may_ have said that?" Max snorted. "We have a situation here, let's not forget that." 

They all froze suddenly. 

"It's from the attic!" Genie yelled. For my benefit she added, "Angela's screaming." 

For what felt like the hundredth time that day we charged in search for Angela. We reached the attic in five minutes. We arrived to find the trap door open, the ladder dangling. 

Max, Julian, Cole and I climbed up the ladder, Mitch and Genie stayed behind with the Animorphs. 

We found Angela, she was tied to a metal chair with chains. Her face was bloodied, I saw that most of the blood came from her mouth. 

That' when I noticed the knife protruding from her abdomen. I stepped forward to help her but a warning glance from Max stopped me. 

He had spotted something I hadn't. A shadow, it was a solid, black shadow of a human. I couldn't make out the features. 

But I didn't care much for the figure; all I could see was that Angela was in critical condition. I saw that she had also been stabbed a couple of times, mostly high up on her shoulder and her shoulder blade. 

Max said quietly, "Yeah we need help here." 

Someone most have called up at him. Otherwise he wouldn't have answered. A second later a tiger and a Gorilla bounded in. 

What the…? 

Oh my god. 

It was Marco and Jake. They sounded sick. 

Sudden movement! I jerked. 

It was the figure, the human stepped forward, that's when I saw the features, that's when I realized what Jake and Marco's alarm had been about. 

I screamed. It was Alexis, he took another heavy step forward and grinned sickly. "Hello all." 

No one said anything. I cannot describe his voice for you, but what I saw was his looks, and his eyes. 

His face was pale, white as a paper, his lips were blood red, his white hair was stained in a mixture of dirt, blood, and leaves. His once bright blue eyes were dead black, a strained look across them, I could see an evil gleam in his unblinking glare. 

I shivered as I noted his overall appearance; scars and wounds marked his body, he wore what he had worn before he had died, only his clothes were torn and ripped. 

He stepped behind Angela and placed a hand on her shoulder, he griped firmly. Angela stifled a moan. 

"I was having some quality time with Angela…Care to join us?" He moved his lips the way a drunken man did, from time to time his eyelids would fall heavily. 

Still no one said anything, we were all too busy being shocked. I could see Alexis's grip tighten around Angela's shoulders, her face twisted in agony, her breathing got short. 

"What are you doing here?" Max said not too nicely. Judging by the fury in his face. 

"What am I doing here?" Alexis questioned looking surprised, "I don't know you tell me? You know why I'm here. Don't you..?" He inquired. 

No answer. Max had fallen silent. I saw his face change color once more. 

"You want me to go away don't you don't you?" He hissed, the drunken quality of his earlier talk was abandoned; his eyes screamed with rage, "You want me to crawl back to that god forsaken hole in the ground don't you?" 

I felt my mouth go dry. True that was what I had been thinking, he looked at us all while he spoke. 

Then he cocked his head at Angela, "You understand don't you?" 

I watched her as her eyes began to race, Alexis leaned over and reached for the knife. Angela closed her eyes and tensed up. He grasped the end of the knife and yanked it out. Angela screamed again. 

All the time we did nothing just stared. We were too shocked to do anything, and the arrival of a dead Alexis was, well, stunning. 

Alexis shook his head slightly, smiled at Angela, pointed at her and said, "Be there." 

Then he jumped out of the window. 

Max ran to the window and peered out. "He's gone." 

I walked to Angela and cut her bounds loose, she stood up, barely being able to stand upright. Max paced. Looked at Angela, opened his mouth to say something, stopped and said something else then fell silent. 

"What happened?" Cole asked Angela. 

"Not now." I replied for her. Cole fumed angrily. 

"Mitch! Julian!" I yelled, "I need some help here." 

As Julian and Mitch helped Angela to her room Max stared at her like he was in a trance. I didn't know what the others were saying downstairs, which was okay, I didn't want to know. 

"Julian would know what to do." Max said numbly. After Jake and Marco had demorphed and stepped out. 

"I'm sure the others will help Angela." I said. 

Again, Max tried to say something but fell in mid sentence. 

"What is it?" I asked kindly. 

His face twisted into a disturbing mix of utter despair and sadness. "You know, Melody, I try my best." 

"You do." 

"I always try to do what's right. Get you back in one piece more or less, but you know what? I'm tired of Angela." 

"I'm sure this will be sorted out." 

"She's always keeping secrets. You know? Last time she almost killed us, and there is this thing between Angela and Visser Three, I feel it." 

"You could be right." 

"I always tell her, help me become a good leader, and all she says is alright. Then she'd send us to disaster by keeping things away from us, that's what she's good for, keeping secrets away and acting like a total-" 

"Maybe she has a reason" I suggested cutting Max's line of foul words. 

He stared at me; the way he did it was like he just noticed I was standing there. 

"Melody?" 

"Uhuh." 

"How do you do it?" 

"Do what?" 

"Cope with having a weakness." 

"What?" 

"You know, people look at you differently because of that, you know, the normal kids, the stupid ones." 

"Well, I wouldn't care-" 

"How come you can not keep secrets? Unlike Angela, I'd have thought something like that would come from you, but you know, I mean, or maybe Cole…" 

I stared at him, why was he talking like that? 

Max paced angrily, he was keeping something back, and the story had something to do with Max, I think, more than it had to do with Angela. Something between Max and Alexis, I noted a strange thing between them, it wasn't words, no it was…it was eye contacts, every time Alexis looked at Max, Max's eyes would fall to the ground. I stared at him. 

"Is there something important you want to tell me?" 

"Uhh, I." He shook his head and fumed. 

"What did Alexis mean?" I said suddenly. 

"What?" Max froze, he looked like someone had just convicted him of something. 

"I said what did Alexis mean?" I repeated sharply. 

"Huh?" I saw something in Max's eyes, something weird. It was guilt. 

"What did Alexis mean when he said 'you know why I'm here. Don't you?'" 

"He didn't mean anything." He muttered, looking away from me. 

"Max!" I said as he walked away. He didn't turn back just hopped downstairs, out of the attic. 

Max had always been a rotten lair, I always knew when he was lying, he'd squint his eyes and look far away when speaking, or he'd look away from my eyes. 

Max was hiding something important, something that bothered him, something he didn't want to speak about. 

But what could it possibly be? 

**T**hey talked to Angela, she told them that she'd been visiting Alexis's grave –another secrete she'd been hiding, not that Max could penalized her for doing so, she's free to do that I supposed. 

She told us the way Alexis dragged her here and…well, we saw what he did. 

The had to go back home, and we were alone again, before I went to sleep a I noticed that the porch light was open, I went out to close it and saw Max sitting on the steps alone. 

"Hey." I said gently, "Aren't you suppose to go to sleep?" 

I sat down beside him and saw that he had been crying. Max doesn't cry often, actually, he never does. So I got worried in a rush. 

"What's wrong?" 

"I don't know." He said miserably. 

I reached out and held his hand in mine, " You could tell me what's wrong." 

"Nothing's wrong with me." He said stubbornly. 

I didn't say anything to that, what was I suppose to say? You look miserable. Instead I said, "If you can't talk to me or anyone else then you can go ahead and wallow in misery alone." I started to get up. 

Max reached up and grabbed my arm, "Please stay." 

I stared at him. 

"Please." 

I sat down. Waited. I knew that whatever he had to say would have something to do with his family, maybe, I was the only one who knew why Max had left. 

He couldn't say why to the rest, I guess he couldn't face it, what had happened to his family. 

Max used to have this perfect family, which is good, but Max said he had lied to us. It wasn't 'perfect', his father, who Max used to constantly admired him, turned out to be involved in a murder, yes, it's a long story, part of it was that his father lied to get away from being convicted guilty for murder degree one. 

Instead a man, who was a lone parent for a six year old girl got the conviction, he happen to be the man who tried to save Max's father's victim. An act of complete cowardice on behalf of Max's father and…Max had been deeply troubled by his father's secret. So he ran away. 

"I swore I'd never be like him." He muttered to me. "But it turns out that what they say is true." 

"What is?" 

"Like father like son." 

"You're not like your father, you're brave and hey, you are saving the human race right?" 

"Melody? I'm telling you something that I don't want the others to know…" He closed his eyes and then said through gritting teeth, "Actually, it's up to you if you want to tell them or not." 

"Tell them what?" 

"Remember the fight I had with Alexis?" 

"Uh, which fight?" I asked uncertainly. 

"Before he died." 

"Oh that." I frowned, "The one where you two were fighting over leadership?" 

He slammed his fist at the wooden porch swearing. 

"What?" 

"He had everything." He hissed suddenly, "Everything I'd have wanted, only I would get it if he…" 

"If he would what?" 

"He got the looks, friends, Angela and now this. The leader thing." 

"Alexis used to be leader, sure, but I never thought it bothered you, I mean you were best friends! Come on! And you know Angela liked Alexis more than yo…" 

I fell silent, stared at him, he was _jealous? _

__"That day, when we went to the Yeerk pool to get Angela. She was all screaming you know, and I thought-" 

"You thought what?" 

"It doesn't matter what I thought."He snapped suddenly, "It's what I did." 

I stared at him, I didn't like where this was heading. 

"We all know that Alexis gave himself over to Visser Three, and as he was doing so was shot." 

"Yeah, but-" 

"I shot him, not the Hok-Bajir." 

My mouth dropped open. 

"I killed Alexis, not the Yeerks, and I did it because I hated him for who he was, what he got. I shot my best friend because of jealously." 


End file.
